New capacity limits being introduced in Ontario, Canada, are not expected to impact casinos in the region, a spokesperson with gaming business Gateway Casinos said. This includes casinos in Point Edward, Sarnia and Chatham, operated by Gateway.
The statement from the gaming company follows a decision taken by the province over the weekend, which mandates a 50% capacity limit for venues with an indoor capacity of 1,000 people or more. Facilities named in the mandate include casinos, sports venues, entertainment centers, among others.
Rob Mitchell, Gateway Director of Communications, confirmed that Starlight Casino Point Edward will be limited to 1,000 patrons. However, he stated the company does not think the measure will impact any of their three casinos in the area, reports Blackburn News.
“We don’t fall into the catchment directly, so at this point, we’ve not been told that it’s going to impact us from a regulatory standpoint at the sites in Chatham and Point Edward and Sarnia, so we should be okay,” Mitchell said.
Gateway Casinos Sarnia has a maximum occupancy of around 600 people, while Cascades Casino Chatham has a capacity to hold around 1,000 patrons. Starlight can host around 2,000 guests, but under current circumstances, it does not typically host more than 1,000 patrons at a given time.
“We’ve noticed some hesitation, but by and large, people are still going on with their everyday lives,” Mitchell further said. “With each passing day and with each new announcement, obviously some people are concerned, but for the most part, business has been fairly steady and we haven’t seen a huge impact as of yet.”
However, the spokesperson said that the company did see a small dip in visitors when vaccine passports were first introduced, amid confusion about what could be presented and what would be acceptable.
Despite this initial setback, things have now stabilized. “Now people have really grown accustomed to it, they’ve more or less adapted to the QR codes,” explained Mitchell. “So things are pretty good right now.”
As most people in the province are double vaccinated, and Ontario quickly moves to offer booster shots, the Gateway representative said the business is cautiously optimistic moving forward amid the changing landscape.
“I think people are growing accustomed to the fact that COVID is something that they’re going to have to live with and I think they feel pretty confident and safe in our facilities,” he said, according to Sarnia News Today.
Mitchell also explained the venues are going to adhere to the health and safety protocols they’ve always followed, including masking. “Our patrons have been terrific and we’ve had very, very few incidents of people that didn’t want to wear masks — a handful at best,” he described.
The new Ontario capacity limit for venues has been introduced in an effort to strengthen the province’s response to the Omicron variant. Additional measures are being enforced to slow the spread, as Ontario accelerates booster dose rollout.
“Throughout this entire pandemic, we’ve never faced an enemy like Omicron given how quickly it spreads,” said Premier Doug Ford last week. “We need to do everything we can to slow its spread as we continue to dramatically ramp up capacity to get as many booster shots into arms as possible. Doing so is the best way to safeguard our hospital and intensive care units.”